Food News

Alert notices from RASFF concerning food (except for fruit & vegetables - see special section)

Alarm

In this section we repeated alert notices from the RASFF system of the European commission issued in the previous month, which we thought to be noteworthy and of interest to our clients. 

 

 

We will refrain from repeating the numerous reports on all mycotoxin and salmonella limit violations but show only a selection to pinpoint the risks. However, we like to put your attention to the fact that in numerous cases missing allergen information was categorized as serious and caused border rejections too.

You can analyse the RASFF-site conveniently by yourself using several filter options and limit the notification to those which are of direct interest to your business. Link: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/search

 

Chemical Hazards:

Product

Origin

3-MCP-D, glycidyl esters & fatty acid ethyl esters

Glycidyl esters 97,1 µg/kg (MRL: 20 µg/kg) in coconut oil

Philippines

Glycidol 13070 µg/kg (!!!) in RBD palm oil

Indonesia

3-MCPD in sunflower oil 1310 – 2450 µg/kg (MRL: 1250 µg/kg)

Germany

Food additive fatty acid ethyl esters
(FFAE)+) 344,8 mg/kg (!!!) (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) in strawberry flavour coated marshmallow biscuits.
Genotoxic and carcinogenic fatty acid esters in desserts whose presentation primarily appeals to children

Turkiey, widely distributed in EU

Antibiotics,
vet. drug residues

Ciprofloxacin +) 265 µg/kg (MRL: 100 µg/kg) in shrimp skewers

Vietnam

Ofloxacin+) 14,3 µg/kg in raw frog legs

Vietnam

Ethylene oxide /
2-chlorethanol:

EtO in food supplement Neem Herbal Capsule 0,31 mg/kg (MRL:0,1 mg/kg)

India

EtO in food supplement 4,3 mg/kg (!) (MRL: 0,1 mg/kg) Thyroid Energy

USA

Heavy and toxic metals

Cadmium 1,7 mg/kg (MRL: 1,0 mg/kg) in cooked mussel meat

Chile

Cadmium 0,25 mg/kg (MRL: 0,2 mg/kg) in horse meat

Romania

Lead 0,039 mg/kg (MRL: 0,02 mg/kg) in organic wholegrain biscuits for toddlers with apple and chia seeds

Belgium

Mercury 0,16 mg/kg (MRL: 0,1 mg/kg) in organic chlorella tablets

China

Histamine

in chilled tuna fillets 1477 mg/kg (!) (MRL: 100 mg/kg)

Spain

in canned tuna 246 mg/kg (MRL: 200 mg/kg)

Spain

in tuna 1.211 mg/kg (!) (MRL: 100 mg/kg)

Netherlands

in anchovy fillets in olive oil

Albania

in frozen Indian mackerel 550 mg/kg (MRL: 200 mg/kg) from Vietnam

Vietnam

Marine biotoxins

Azaspiracid toxins above the regulatory limit in oysters and in blue mussels

Ireland

Mycotoxins

Aflatoxins 17,7 µg/kg, 76,9 µg/kg, 77,8 µg/kg, 110 µg/kg (!) (MRL: 10 µg/kg) in apricot kernels

Turkey

Aflatoxins 36,29 µg/kg (MRL: 10 µg/kg) in almond meal

Spain, via Germany

Ochratoxin A 16.4 µg/kg in organic whole grain rye pasta

Poland

Ochratoxin A 18 µg/kg (MRL: 8 µg/kg) in chopped dried figs and in organic dried figs 24,4 µg/kg; 104,0 µg/kg;

Turkey

PAH

Benzo[a]pyrene 8,7 µg/kg (MRL: 2 µg/kg) in coconut oil

Philippines

PAH 30 µg/kg (MRL: 20 µg/kg) Benzo[a]pyrene 5,8 µg/kg (MRL: 2 µg/kg) in palmoil 

Togo

PAH 299,2 µg/kg (MRL: 50 µg/kg) & Benzo[a]pyrene 14,1 µg/kg (MRL: 10 µg/kg) in dried bay leaves 

Bangladesh

Pesticides

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bifenthrin 0,73 mg/kg (!) (MRL:0,02 mg/kg), Brompropylate 0,15 mg/kg (!) (0,01), Chlorfenapyr +) 0,044 mg/kg (0,01), Chlorpyriphos +) 0,43 mg/kg (!) (0,01), Chlorothalonil 0,47 (!) (0,02), Triadimenol 0,21 (!) (0,02) in rosemary 

Israel

Dinotefuran +) 0,17 mg/kg (!) (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg), Tolfenpyrad 0,028 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) in black tea 

Taiwan

Dithiocarbamates 29 mg/kg (MRL: 5 mg/kg) in basil 

Ethiopia

Brompropylate 0,36 mg/kg (!) (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg), Chlorpyriphos +) 0,24 mg/kg (!) (0,01), Pyraclostrobin 4,6 mg/kg (MRL: 2 mg/kg) in basil 

Israel

Chlorpyriphos +) 0,22 mg/kg (!) (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg), Ethion 0,065 mg/kg (0,01), Triazophos 0,037 mg/kg (0,01) in dried and ground chili

Thailand

Chlorpyriphos +) 0,029 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg), Carbendazim +) 0,013 mg/kg (0,01) in hot (spice) mixture 

India

Matrin +) 1,4 mg/kg (!!!) (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) & Oxymatrin +) 3,1 mg/kg (!!!) (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) in licorice, dried

Turkey

Carbendazim +) 0,022 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg), Chlorpyriphos +) 0,029 mg/kg (0,01), Tricyclazole +) 0,04 mg/kg (0,01) in rice 

Bangladesh

Imidacloprid +) 0,028 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) Thiamethoxam 0,064 (0,01), Tricyclazole +) 0,021mg/kg (0,01) in rice

India

Imazetapyr +) 0,046 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) in lentils 

Russia

in sunflower seeds Chlorpyriphos +) 0,033 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01)

Russia

Chlorfenapyr +) 0,27 mg/kg (!) (MRL:0,01 mg/kg) & Chlorpyriphos +) 0,12 mg/kg (!) (0,01) in dried tomatoes 

Egypt

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids

in cumin seeds 446,7 µg/kg (MRL: 400 µg/kg)

India

Sudan dyes and other unauthorized colorants

Malachite Green (Leuco) in frozen shrimps

Bangladesh

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)

Unsafe levels of Delta‐9‐tetrahydro-cannabinol (THC) and unauthorised Novel Foods (CO2 and Ethanol extracted CBD) in CBD Oils

Poland

Unsafe Levels of Delta‐9‐tetrahydro-cannabinol (THC) in CBD oil

Netherlands

Titanium oxide (E 171) +)

in food additive 0,7-2,5 %

Serbia

in Pilex capsules 1,75%

USA

+) application is prohibited

MRL exceeded: ! ≥10 times, !! ≥50 times, !!! ≥ 100 times

 

Microbiological Hazards

Product

Origin

Listeria monocytogenes

in chilled beef tartare

Poland

in mature EIDAM cheese

Poland

in Raclette cheese

France

Salmonella

in sesame seeds (48)

Chad (1), India (5), Nigeria (32), Turkey (9), unknown (1)

in sesame paste

Turkey

in vanilla-flavoured halva & in tahini halva with pistachios

Turkey

in powder paprika (3)

China

in veal minced meat

France

in smoked herring fillets

France

in mussels, with raw materials from Spain

France

S. Typhimurium in food supplement

Lithuania

in organic cheese-flavoured protein chips

Denmark

Escherichia coli

in mussels

Netherlands

Norovirus 

in live oysters (Crassostrea gigas)

France

Vibrio spp.

Vibrio vulnifucis in frozen raw shrimps (4)

Ecuador, France, Venezuela (2)

Vibrio cholerae, vibrio parahaemolyticus and vibrio vulnifucis in frozen shrimps

Vietnam

Yersinia enterocolitica

in smoked chicken breast

Belgium

 

YOUR PLUS: Our laboratory AGROLAB Dr. Blasy-Dr. Busse is allowed to work with pathogenic food viruses and offers also analysis for Norovirus and Hepatitis A virus. 

 

Author: Dr. Frank Mörsberger